Hot Chocolate
by Ellsweetella
Summary: May Fifteen, 2001. The first time their paths crossed. Part 4 of Coffeeshop Series (Skim Latte, With a Shake of Cinnamon, Coffee with a shot of whiskey)


**A/N: For Maleval Week Day Two: Tragedy/Pain**

**Hot Chocolate**

_Thirteen years ago_

Mallory is siting in the café with her sister, waiting for their parents to arrive.

She takes a huge mouthful of the hot chocolate, sighing contently as the thick creamy chocolate slides down her throat.

"What's taking them so long?" the eighteen year old Leah sighs, cupping her head with her hands.

"Beats me. Are you sure you don't want a sip?" she asks her sister, slightly crept out by the fact that all she is drinking is skim latte.

Leah wrinkles her tiny nose, looking at the cup topped with a mountain of whipped cream.

"Your teeth will fall off if you take in so much sugar," Leah chides the fifteen-year-old teenager.

Mallory replies with an eye roll that is eerily similar to her mother's.

"You are acting like an old lady," Mallory sighs dramatically, shoving a mouthful of chocolate cake into her mouth. "Live! You are still so young!"

"And you are acting like a child," Leah raises her eyebrow.

"I am a child!" Mallory grins and eyes the strawberry on her sister's cake.

It is the perfect strawberry, red and plump, begging to be eaten.

Leah can feel her stare and she pushes her plate forward. "You can have the strawberry."

"Thanks!" Mallory stabs the red fruit with her fork and pops it into her mouth. "Why don't you like strawberries?"

"No reason," Leah smiles nonchalantly.

She likes strawberries but she likes Mal's smile more.

"What is taking them so long," Mallory groans, hitting her face on the table.

Leah chuckles and steals a bite from Mallory's chocolate cake.

…

Diaval hears the music playing from the radio that his brother is singing to. He doesn't know the name of the song but the tune is already imprinted in his mind.

He turns to his brother; whose grin is so wide that Diaval thinks it might tear his face into two.

Balthazar, his nineteen-year-old brother, deserves the car. He had worked hard for it, scrimping and saving all his money and earnings for the silver second hand car.

Diaval feels a tad envious but he is truly happy for Balthazar. It has been a while since he had last seen his older brother that happy.

He looks out of the window, watching the trees go by in a blur.

"I saved a raven the other day," Balthazar gives his brother a smirk.

"No way."

"I did," he says with pride. "That poor thing almost had it's wings tore off but we managed to save it in time."

"Hell yeah," Diaval laughs, delighted at the news his brother brought.

Balthazar is a vet in training. He has always been fond of animals and has been helping the strays since he was young. It seems natural that he will be a vet when he grows up. He has the potential too, simply made for the job.

Diaval shares his brother's love for animals but is clumsy with his fingers.

And the car swerves, trying to avoid the dog that sprung up.

Everything is a blur.

There is this pain, pain that floods his mind, spreading from the side of his head.

He sees the broken glass scattered across his chest, coated with red.

Blood. His blood.

He hears the loud murmurings of the crowd that gathers around the accident site. He can feel their gazes, intrusive and curious, drawn to the morbidity of an accident.

And he remembers his brother.

Balthazar.

He tries to scream for him but there is no sound. He can't see him. He is pinned down, unable to turn to search for Balthazar.

The sun is piercing and he is forced to stare straight into it. Black spots appear before his eyes and he fights to stay awake.

Is he dead?

Is Balthazar dead?

The song from the radio continues to play, over and over again, until he loses consciousness.

…

They speeds to the hospital once they received the call.

Mallory sits outside the operating room, unmoving.

Leah paces around, wringing her hands, her thin eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

They are both slightly trembling from the fear that pulses through the very core of their bodies.

They only know that their parents were driving to meet them when they got into a car accident.

That's all.

They don't know whether they will pull through, whether they will survive. The last they heard, they had suffered severe injuries and was on the brink of death when the ambulance came.

Mallory can't breathe.

Something presses against her lungs, preventing any air from entering. Her body is shutting down; part by part, attacked by the anxiety and fear that blinds her.

Her parents can't die.

They can't just leave them here, alone.

Leah holds onto faith that Lysander and Hermia will live. She is the optimistic one after all. The one who tries to see the good in everything, even in desperate situations. Leah always manages to find the silver lining in every cloud, even the darkest ones.

As the seconds tick by, Mallory can sense that Leah's faith is faltering and she is trying her best to hold onto it, determined to not let her faith slip through her fingertips.

Mallory watches her sister pace the room, a hypnotising motion.

It is four hours later when the doctors emerge from the operating room.

Mallory can only pick out pieces of their sentences.

"We are sorry."

"Tried our best."

And there is the scream.

Not from her.

Leah collapses, tears running down her cheeks. And she screams, and screams, and screams.

Mallory watches, scarily detached from the reality unfolding before her eyes.

She hasn't processed the words and the fact presented before her eyes.

Her parents aren't dead.

They can't possibly be dead.

Not when they promised them so much. Not when they are supposed to be here, living, breathing, going on their days.

Not when the two cups of hot chocolate are waiting for them.

They are not dead.

"They are not dead," Mallory whispers to Leah. "They are lying."

…

Diaval wakes up from the pain stirring in his body.

He looks around, registering his surroundings.

Hospital.

And he remembers what happened. He remembers the accident.

He remembers looking at the broken body of Balthazar before being wheeled away into the ambulance.

Balthazar.

A nurse comes in with the obligatory cheerful smile on her face.

"How are you feeling?"

Diaval doesn't reply.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

Silence.

"Would you like a glass of water?"

Her smile falters when he doesn't reply again.

"If you need me, just press the button," she states after checking his vitals and charts. "Be strong." She gives a last smile.

He turns away, looking out of the window.

He knows that look. That sympathetic look that tells him what he already knows.

Balthazar is dead.

He sees his reflection, the pristine bandage covering half of his face. He slowly peels them off, revealing a long red line.

He lowers his eyes and slowly wraps his face up once more.

A raven lands on the windowsill, cocking its head.

He wishes he were a bird.

…..

Leah's grip on Mallory's hand hurts her but she is grateful for the pain and the hand to hold.

She places the lilies onto their mother's grave (Hermia's favourite) while Leah places the sunflowers onto their father's grave (Lysander's favourite).

And there is the quiet rage inside of Mallory that blames the teenagers in the other car.

They caused her parents' deaths and nothing will change her mind.

And Leah, sweet eighteen-year-old Leah is now forced to give up her scholarship to Oxford.

Leah, young Leah must now find a way to pay the bills.

And Mallory, Mallory is now her sister's burden.

(And Mallory doesn't realise that everyone she will love will leave her in the end.)

Because she still has Leah, for now.

There is a boy around her age at the tombstone nearby. A long scar runs down his face and his eyes, cold and dark, meet hers.

…..

_Present_

Mallory leaves the bouquet of lilies and sunflowers on her parent's grave.

Aurora looks up at her, her chubby little fingers squeezing Mallory's. She manages to give the young girl a gentle smile.

"Want to visit mummy and give her the flowers you pick out?" she asks.

Aurora nods and follows her Aunt.

They stand before a tombstone with words engraved on them.

_Beloved by all._

_Daughter, Sister and Mother._

_Leah Fae_

_1983-2012_

Aurora bends down and lays the bouquet of red roses on the cold stone.

"I miss her," she whispers to Mallory.

"Me too, little beastie," Mallory murmurs.

They buy a cup of hot chocolate and a cup of skim latte.


End file.
